Mechanism for producing a combined rotary and reciprocating movement



be; 24, 1940. w P 2,226,137

MECHANISM FOR PRODUCING COMBINED ROTARY AND RECIPROCATING MOVEMENT Filed Oct. 20, 1959 F/G] F168 W- POOL INVENTOR WYWW Patented Dec. 24, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE MECHANISM FOR PRODUCING A COMBINED ROTARY AND RECIPROCATING MOVE- MENT Application October 20, 1939, Serial No. 300,360 In Great Britain October 22, 1938 8 Claims.

This invention relates to improvements in or relating to mechanism for producing a combined rotary and reciprocating movement and to applications thereof.

According to the invention, a mechanism for producing in a rotatable member a rotary movement combined with an axially reciprocating movement comprises two ratchet mechanisms dis posed one at each end of the rotatable member, said ratchet mechanisms each consisting of a driving member and a driven member, the driven members being connected to the rotatable member so as to be rotatable with that member and the driving members being free to move relatively to the rotatable member, each driving member being arranged to move alternately in opposite directions, movement of each driving member when both are moving being in a direction opposite to that of the other, so that each driving member 20 in turn makes driving engagement with its driven member to rotate the rotatable member while the other causes the rotatable member to move in an axial direction, thus causing the rotatable member during its rotation to reciprocate in the direction of its axis. Conveniently, the rotatable member is in the form of a roller and the ratchet members are cylindrical in form, having the same diameter as the roller, and arranged to oscillate about the ads of the roller.

Various forms of cam, eccentric or other mechanisms may be used to impart the motions to the driving members. For example, the members may be driven from a common shaft having a rate of rotation in accordance with the required rate of reciprocation, eccentrics of similar. throw, but differing in phase, being directly connected to the driving members. An intermediate operating member may, however, be provided between the driving member and the eccentric or other means from which the motion is derived. This arrangement is. particularly suitable to enable a single operating shaft to control a number of rollers.

The invention also includes the application of a roller and roller mechanism as above described to the driving of a band or hands required to have a transversely reciprocating movement, for example rubbing bands as used for compacting continuous assemblies of staple fibres in the preparation of textile threads, andin this connection the invention is particularly useful for the driving of rubbing bands as used in operations for the di rect conversion of bundles of continuous filaments into staple fibre products. Thus, each pair of rub- -bing bands between which the fibrous assembly passes may be mounted on a pair of the ratchet driven rollers, and conveniently the ratchet members used for all four rollers are operated from a common shaft, as indicated above.

One form of ratchet mechanism according to 5 the invention will now be described in greater detail in connection with rubbing band apparatus of the type just mentioned, with-reference to the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic side elevation of apparatus for the conversion of continuous filaments into a staple fibre product;

Fig. 2 is a front elevation showing diagrammatically the driving of one roller of the type used in the rubbing apparatus of Fig. 1;

Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6 show diagrammatically the way in which the combined rotary and reciprocating motion is imparted to a roller;

Figs. '7 and 8 are diagrams showing two types of combined motion that may be obtained;

Fig. 9 is a plan view of the rubbing apparatus of Fig. 1, viewed in the direction 9-9; and

Fig. 10 shows the common driving means for the four rollers of the rubbing apparatus of Fig. 1.

Referring to Fig. 1, a bundle of continuous filaments l with little or no twist is drawn from a supply package 2 and through a gate-tension device 3 by feed rollers 4, and delivered to an air jet 5 from which the end of the bundle is propelled so as to lie above a hair-clipper cutting .device 6. The air jet operates intermittently, being controlled by means of a suitable valve (not shown), and in addition to feeding forward the end of the bundle, serves to separate the filaments from each other.

The separated filaments are carried into the cutting device 6 by. means of an intermittently operated deflector I so that a group of separated fibres is cut from the filaments. The forward ends of the fibres reach to approximately the point 8 one permeable support 9 in the form of an endless band passing round the suction tube Ill, which is perforated at the point ll so as to hold the fibres to the support 9. The upper run of the support 9 moves towards the nip of rollers I2, l3, the roller I! being surrounded by the sup port 9, and the roller I'3 serving with a roller I4 to carry an endless band IS. A second endless band I6 is carried by rollers I1, l8, and the inner runs of the two bands I5, I 6 are pressed against each other, being assisted in this respect by means of a roller [9 within the band Hi.

The groups of filaments presented to the support 9 overlap each other and form a continuous assembly which passes between the rubbing bands 55 I5, I6 and is compacted by the bands-so that when it emerges from the nip of therollers I4, II, it can be twisted into a staple fibre product 20 by .the ring spinning device 2|. The compacting function of the bands I5, I6 is effected by reciprocating the respective pairs of rollers I3, I4 and I1, I8 axially in opposite directions.

One such roller, indicated generally as 22, is shown in Fig. 2. The ends of the roller are formed with ratchet teeth 23, 24 fac' g in a direction opposite, to the direction in which the roller is to rotate, as indicated by the arrow. Ratchet members 25, 26 in the form of cylinders having the same diameter as the roller 22 and having teeth facing in the direction in which the roller is to rotate, are mounted co-axially with the roller, and positioned so that when the roller is in full engagement with one of the ratchet members, say 25, the other end of the roller is just free of the other ratchet member, say 26. Such a position of the roller and ratchet members is shown-in Fig. 3.

In Fig. 3, the ratchet member 25 is about to move in a direction opposite to the rotation of,

the roller 22, this movement being efiected (as shown in Fig. 2) from an eccentric 21 driven by a shaft 28,'the eccentric serving to oscillate an intermediate driving disc 29 rotatable on a shaft 30, and the disc 29 being connected to the ratchet member 25 by a steel tape 3|. A similar eccentric 32, mounted 180 out of phase with the eccentric 2'I,'oscillates an intermediate driving disc 33 connected to the ratchet member 26 by a steel tape 34. The ratchet member 26 is thus about to move in the same direction as the rotation of the roller '22. Because-of the inertia of the roller 22 the first effect of the movement of the ratchet member 25 is to move the roller 22 slightly towards the ratchet member 26, thus bringing about an engagement between the ratchet teeth 24 on the right hand end of the roller with the teeth of the member 26. The roller 22 is thus forced by the member 26 to rotate in the same direction as the member 26. At the same time the member 25 continues to push the roller 22 until full engagement is made between the teeth 24 and the member 26, as indicated in Fig. 4. This occurs after the members 25, 26 have moved by the space of half a tooth, and the teeth 23 of the left hand end of the roller 22 become completely freed from the member 25. The continued movement of the members 25, 26 of a further half-tooth, making a full tooth in all, causes the roller 22 to rotate still further, with, however, no axial movement. The position shown in Fig. 5 is then reached.

This position is exactly the reverse of the one shown in Fig. 3, and if the direction of motion of the members 25, 26 is now reversed, as indicated by the arrows, the inertia of the roller 22 brings about a re-engagement of the left-hand teeth 23 with the member 25, so that a full engagement with the teeth 23 is reached after a l -tooth movement, as shown in Fig. 6, a further /2-tooth movement bringing about rotation of the roller 22 without axial movement until the position shown in Fig. 3 is once again reached. 1

This sequence of movements is shown in Fig. 7, the distances a being the equal amounts of rotational movement of the roller 22 obtained in the stages of operation shown by Figs. 3, 4, 5, 6 and back to Fig. 3, and b showing the amount of endwise movement of the roller taking place in the operations between Figs. 3, 4, and Figs.

5 and 6. It is clear to see that the distance a. equals the circumferential length of one of the ratchet teeth, and the distance D the depth of the ratchet teeth. It may here be observed that a l-tooth movement of the ratchet members 25, 26 results in a 2-tooth movement of the roller 22.

If the ratchet members 25, 26 are oscillated over the space of half a tooth only, i. e. if the members 25, 26 reverse their motion when they reach the position shown in Fig. 4, the whole motion of the roller 22 is one of combined rotation and reciprocation, since there is no opportunity for the simple rotational movement to obtain as was the case between the positions of Figs. 4 and 5 and Figs. 6 and 3 respectively, previously described. The resulting movement in this case, is, as indicated in Fig. 8, the -tooth movement of the ratchet members resulting in a l-tooth movement of the roller.

The amount of oscillation of the members 25, 26 depends on the throw of the eccentrics 21, 32. Though in Fig. 2 only one band is shown connecting each disc 29, 33 with the respective member 25, 26, other bands are provided to give the return movement of the members, as will be seen from Fig. 10.

In the rubbing apparatus shown in Figs. 1, 9 and 10, the rollers I3, I4, I! and I8 are all arranged for ratchet operation in the same way as the roller 22 shown in Fig. 2. Suitable bearings are provided for the rollers and also means for eccentrics such as 21, 32, connected to interme-' diate driving discs 29, 33 which are connected to the ratchet members by means of steel tapes 3! as shown in Fig. 10'. The tapes drive the ratchet members 35, 45 in the same direction, and likewise the ratchet members 36, 46 in the same direction, but opposite to the members 35, 45. The oppositely facingteeth on the ratchet members cause the rollers I4, I! to rotate in opposite directions and the engaging runs of the rubbing bands I5, I6 to move in the same direction. At the same time the bands move rapidly in opposite directions parallel to the axes of the supporting rollers, so as to rub into compact form the fibre assembly passing between.

The roller I3 presses the band I5 on to the support 9 and the lengthwise movement of the band I5 serves to drive the support 9 over the suction tube I0, the sideways movement of the band I5 with respect to the support 9 being of no consequence as regards the operation of the device.

In the apparatus illustrated, the ratchet mechanisms are constituted by pairs of identical sets of teeth, each tooth having an inclined face. Whilst it may in some cases be advantageous to have such identity of construction, it will be understood that the necessary ratchet action (1. e., an action giving a rotary movement to the driven member during one direction of movement of the driving member and an endwise movement to the driven member during the other direction of movement of the driving member) only calls for the presence of inclined teeth on one of the two members (driving and driven) constituting each ratchet mechanism, in which case the other member need only present abutments for appropriate engagement with the inclined teeth.

Having described my invention, what I desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. Mechanism for producing in a rotatable member a rotary movement combined with an axially reciprocating movement comprising two ratchet mechanisms disposed one at each end of the rotatable member, said ratchet mechanisms each consisting of a driving member and a driven member, the driven members being connected to the rotatable member so as to be rotatable with that member and the driving members being free to move relatively to the rotatable member, each driving member being arranged to move alternately in opposite directions, movement of each driving member when both are moving being in a direction opposite to that of the other, so that each driving member in turn makes driving engagement with its driven member to rotate the rotatable member while the other causes the rotatable member to move in an axial direction, thus causing the rotatable member during its rotation to reciprocate in the direction of its axis.

2. Mechanism according to claim 1, wherein the rotatable member is in the form of a roller and the ratchet members are cylindrical in form and are of the same diameter as the roller.

3. Mechanism for producing in a rotatable member a rotary movement combined with an axially reciprocating movement comprising two ratchet mechanisms disposed one at each end of the rotatable member, said ratchet mechanisms each consisting of a driving member and a driven member, the driven members being connected to the rotatable member so as to be rotatable with that member and the driving members being free to move relatively to the rotatable member, and a cam or-eccentrie mechanism for imparting to each of said driving members alternate movements in opposite directions, the movement of each driving member when both are moving being in a direction opposite to that of the other,

, so that each driving member in turn makes driving engagement with its driven member to rotate the rotatable member while the other causes the rotatable member to move in an axial direction, thus causing the rotatable member during its rotation to reciprocate in the direction of its axis.

4. Mechanism for producing in a roller a rotary movement combined with an axially reciprocating movement, comprising two cylindrical ratchet mechanisms disposed one at each end of the roller, said ratchet mechanisms each comprising a driving member bearing teeth adapted to engage with teeth at the end of the roller, and a cam or eccentric mechanism adapted to impart to said driving members alternate movement in opposite directions, the movement of each driving member when both are moving being in a direction opposite to that of the other, so that each driving member in turn makes driving endirection.

or eccentric mechanism, and intermediate operating means adapted to transmit, from said cam or eccentric mechanism to said driving members, movements alternately in opposite directions, the movement 0i each drivingmember when both are moving being in a direction opposite to that of the other, so that each driving member in turn makes driving engagement with the end of the roller while .the other driving member causes the roller to move in an axial direction.

6. Apparatus for the manufacture of yarns or like products from staple fibers of the type in which the fibers are compacted by their passage between the nip of a pair of endless travelling bands which have a transversely reciprocating movement, said apparatus comprising band-driving rollers, two cylindrical ratchet mechanisms disposed one at each end of at least one of said band-driving rollers, said ratchet mechanisms 20 each comprising a driving member having ratchet teeth adapted to engage with ratchet teeth on the end of the said roller, and means for moving each driving member alternately in opposite directions, the movement of each driving member, when both are moving, being in a direction opposite to that of the other so that each driving member in turn makes driving engagement with said roller while the other causes said roller to comprising a driving member having ratchet teeth adapted to engage with ratchet teeth at the end of said roller, means common to all said band-driving rollers for moving each driving member alternately in opposite directions, the

movement of each driving member oi! each pair,

when both are moving, being in a direction opposite to that of the other so that each driving member in turn makes driving engagement with its roller while the other causes said roller to move in an axial direction.

8. Apparatus for the manufacture of yarns or like products from staple fibers oi. the type in which the fibers are compacted by their passage between the nip of a pair of endless travelling bands which have a transversely reciprocating movement, said apparatus comprising banddriving rollers, cylindrical ratchet mechanisms disposed one at each end of each of said banddriving rollers said ratchet mechanisms each comprising a driving member having-ratchet teeth adapted to engage with ratchet teeth on the end of said roller, a cam or eccentric mechanism common to all said band-driving rollers, and an intermediate operating member for transmitting, from said cam or eccentric mechanism to said driving members, movements alternately" I the other so that each driving member, in turn makes a driving engagement with its roller while" the other causes said roller to move in an axial 7 u WILLIAM POOL. 

